In the video clip, the woman walking through a Las Vegas resort tells viewers that “it’s time to go places normal has never been.”
Normal — at least in a pre-COVID-19 sense — would seem to be an attractive development as Las Vegas continues to rebound from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but that’s not what MGM Resorts International is attempting to sell in an ad campaign launched last month, about three weeks after all COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in Clark County.
The “it’s time campaign” is highlighted by the short video clip, which began playing on platforms such as Hulu, Roku, among other spaces, on June 21.
According to Sarah Moore, MGM vice president of marketing, it’s part of a larger “rallying cry” to help drive visitation back to a city that welcomed about 42 million tourists in 2019 but only about half of that last year.
“We know this is the right time to get back to what makes us innately human — to come together and share experiences,” Moore said. “We’re back at 100% capacity now, so it’s an important time to celebrate.”
In some areas, Las Vegas has come close to a return to business levels witnessed before the pandemic.
In May, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, 2.9 million people flocked to the city, a month-over-month increase of 12% from April.
Also last month, about 3.5 million arriving and departing passengers passed through McCarran International Airport, a 600,000-person jump from April.
Still, both metrics remain below figures for the pre-pandemic month of May 2019.
While the Strip and downtown Las Vegas are busy places on weekends, slow-returning feeder segments like the convention industry and international travel remain heavily affected by the aftershocks of the pandemic.
According to LVCVA statistics, weekend hotel occupancy in Las Vegas in May was about 88%, not far from the May 2019 figure of 96%.
But weekday occupancy is a different story. Hotels in the Las Vegas Valley were only 63% full in May, off from 88% during the same month in 2019.
That’s largely because conventions have yet to fully return to the city, though the World of Concrete trade show last month did return to the Las Vegas Convention Center to much fanfare.
Michael Massari, chief sales officer for Caesars Entertainment, said he is excited about convention bookings for the company’s 300,000-square-foot Caesars Forum meetings facility.
Caesars Forum, which sits just east of the Strip between East Flamingo Road and Sands Avenue, was scheduled to open in 2020, but those plans were altered by the pandemic.
The facility had hosted a number of small events — usually only up to 50 or 100 people depending on the COVID-19 restrictions that were in place at time — in recent months, but was able to host its first small convention, with about 1,200 attendees, in June.
“That kicked off what will be a pretty solid calendar (for Caesars Forum) for the next year or two,” Massari said. “People’s desire to meet has never been higher and their understanding of why they meet face-to-face has never been better. A year of going without face-to-face gatherings, I think, really solidified that in people’s minds.”
In fact, Massari said, Caesars wrote more new contracts for events during the 12 months after the onset of the pandemic in Las Vegas than in any other 12-month period in the company’s history.
“Customer demand for future meetings never waned,” Massari said. “We were still a little concerned by companies saying things like they’re only going to send seven people (to a convention) when they used to send 10, but I think we’re going to have a good remainder of the year.”
For now, as convention business trickles back, it’s the leisure traveler who will have to carry the day. After all, convention business in the city is still so low, the LVCVA hasn’t even started to track attendance, something it stopped doing during the height of the pandemic last year.
“There’s pent-up demand out there,” Moore said. “People are excited to be back out there. What we’re doing is deeply rooted in consumer sentiment.”
According to the most recent state casino gaming win figure, pent-up demand seems to be a very real thing.
In May, according to Nevada gaming regulators, casinos pulled in $1.23 billion, an all-time record.
Casinos on the Strip won $655.5 million in May, up nearly 27% from the same month in 2019.
Like MGM, Wynn Las Vegas has also made a push to enhance leisure travel bookings, possibly also sensing the time is right to pounce.
The company, which has the Wynn and Encore resort towers on the north side of the Strip, recently launched an online booking service that provides “fully planned” and “near-inclusive” group vacation packages.
The service touts a collection of “never too late to celebrate” group getaway packages for up to eight people.
The packages, which include a two- or three-night stay at Wynn or Encore, start at $3,600. They include transportation to and from McCarran International Airport.
“After 15 months of separation, we are making it as easy as possible for our guests to relax and reconnect with loved ones,” said Marilyn Spiegel, president of Wynn Las Vegas. “We’ve had a lot of interest in these curated experiences. We’re at the top of the market, but the top of the market has responded very well recently. We’re very close to being sold out every weekend.”
For those who haven’t traveled to Las Vegas, there’s also plenty to see for the first time.
Resorts World, the $4.3 billion megaresort on the Strip’s north end, opened last month, as did the $1 billion Circa Las Vegas property downtown late last year.
There’s also Allegiant Stadium, which will welcome fans to football games and concerts this summer and fall, and the Convention Center’s $1 billion expansion, which features a sleek underground people-mover transportation system.
If there is a cloud of doubt about the Las Vegas recovery, it’s likely centered on the state’s ominous recent rise in coronavirus cases.
On Thursday, state health officials reported 543 new cases and 11 deaths, which continued a recent trend of positivity rate increases.
Though there have been many positive signs of economic recovery, the momentum in Las Vegas could be tempered, according to Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, by “scary test percentages and low vaccine percentages.”
While uncertainties remain, Moore said the time is now for MGM — and Las Vegas — to do what it seems to do best.
“Here at MGM, we exist to entertain, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do,” Moore said.